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The future of transport driven by standards – ECOS & CEN-CENELEC together for e-mobility

Emissions from transport in Europe account for a quarter of all emissions and much of the air pollution. Yet signs are emerging of an approaching inflexion point towards a sustainable energy transition. In the past years, environmental NGOs, government and industry have presented a series of strong signals that the end of the internal combustion engine is approaching. For example France will ban the sale of all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, and vehicle manufacturers have unveiled production line after production line that centres on one technology: electromobility.

Energy transition through standards: support from ECOS

Standards offer the technical foundation for this transition. They act as powerful tools within the Single Market to help strengthen interoperability for millions of devices, reduce the risk of stranded assets, avoid market fragmentation and guarantee minimum functionality. ECOS has been deeply involved in the work of CEN and CENELEC, ISO and IEC on the development of standards in this area. This includes contributions to standards that govern not only electric vehicles, but also customer energy managers, smart appliances and smart meters to strengthen their ability to interoperate among themselves and support the integration of variable renewable energy sources, and millions of electric vehicles.

Standards for mobility

The standardisation of electric vehicles has historically focused on plugs, outlets and electrical safety. Back-end aspects, such as communication interfaces and electric vehicle power system integration have been primarily developed as research and pilot projects, which has led to proprietary solutions that reflect, to some extent, the current state of the market.

More recently, attention has shifted towards the development requirements for smart charging. For instance, the standard that governs the communication between the electric vehicle and the electric vehicle supply equipment (ISO/IEC 15118) is currently being revised to ensure the inclusion of advanced smart charging options, such as bidirectional power transfer and wireless power transfer. This is supported by the launch of a new standard to manage back-end electric vehicle charging infrastructure (IEC 63110) and a standard to govern communication between charging service operators and third-party service management platforms to enable electric vehicle roaming services. Moreover, CEN-CENELEC and ETSI established a Coordination Group on eMobility, which coordinates and discusses European standardisation activities related to electro-mobility – notably eBuses, L-Category vehicles and electricity fuel labelling. Relevant work is also ongoing in CEN/TC 301 “Road vehicles” and CENELEC/TC 69X “Electrical systems for electric road vehicles”

European Sustainable Energy Week 2018

Events such as the EUSEW 2018 (4-8 June) help bring electromobility into focus, and ECOS, CEN and CENELEC are proud to actively help shape it by contributing and speaking in dedicated sessions:

This year the EUSEW focuses on how to “Lead the clean energy transition”, a crucial change from a fossil fuel-based to a carbon-neutral energy system based on renewables and energy efficiency. While significant challenges are yet to be overcome, a sustainable future supported by standards is within our grasp.